Pickle

In an effort not to make my children think that they are wicked and evil (even when they are) I have taken to calling them pickles instead of bad or naughty (apparently it’s naughty behaviour, not a naughty child).

On a slightly different note but still related, it’s hard to properly discipline a child when you’re laughing so hard that you’re crying.

I opened the car door for both children to get into the car this morning after shopping.  The girl got into her seat and sat quietly waiting for me.  The boy also got into his seat.  Once he was in I quickly put the shopping in the boot and turned back to strap them in.  The girl was still sitting demurely where I’d left her.  The boy had climbed from the back into the driver’s seat and was frantically pressing every button he could reach whilst triumphantly waving the CD he’d extracted from the CD player.  I didn’t even know you could get the CD out when the engine was off.

Expressive

He does charismatic

and  also fabulously smiley

Shy

They are always shy to start with.  It didn’t take them long to warm up to their great grandmother though.

Countryside

We went for a walk this morning and found some ducks.  I enjoy a walk in the country much more when it’s a crisp, clear winter’s day (even if it is quite soggy underfoot) than on a warm sunny day.  Does that make me odd?

Stonehenge

We’re visiting my family in the West Country at the moment and drove down today.  We decided to take a slightly different route to the one we usually take and came past Stonehenge.  I attempted to explain to a just 2 year old and a nearly 4 year old the significance of it.  The conversation went something like this

Me: “Ooh kids, if you look out of daddy’s window you can see Stonehenge”

The girl: “what is it?”

Me: “um, some stones that some people put there a really, really long time ago” (ending sentence in a slightly deflated fashion)

The girl: “I’m bored” (for about the eleventy hundredth time, I might add)

The boy: “sheeps?”

Lesson learnt.  Don’t try and teach ancient history to the under 11s especially when you’ve only got a very vague grasp of it yourself.

For all you over 11s, here is Stonehenge framed by a car window and my lovely husband.

Speaking of ancient monuments, the reason we’re here is to celebrate my Grandmother’s 90th birthday.  She’s always said that only the good die young!

Say Cheese

There’s only one thing to do when things aren’t going quite to plan.

Grin and bear it (or is it grin and bare it?  I’m never sure).

The girl took that.  I was very impressed.  I think she’s got a good eye for a quirky shot.

Catching His Breath

The boy had a consultant appointment today to discuss his ongoing wheezing and allergy.  Because he’s had about half a dozen significant episodes of wheezing* we’ve now been given a preventer inhaler.  Two puffs, twice a day, come rain or shine for at least the next year with regular reviews to see how he’s doing.  I’ve got mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand a preventer is a fantastic thing if it means fewer trips to hospital.  On the other hand, it says to me that it’s not just a few isolated incidences of wheeziness but something more serious.

I was also told that because of the severity of his reaction to the peanut butter and subsequent prick test they won’t even consider testing him for at least another two years.  That frightens me.  We have been running a strict avoidance policy on all nuts and I had been hoping that after this appointment we could relax that a bit, maybe let a stray cashew or bit of marzipan into the house but it seems not.

All in all today hasn’t been the best day I’ve had this year.  Mind you, it hasn’t been the worse by a long shot either!  As a good friend of mine said in an email the other day “will this year not let up?”.

As it’s been a while since I posted, here are a couple of bonus pictures.

My back up title for this post would be “How Long Before The Balance Tips?”

* that fair trips off the tongue, doesn’t it?  We’re not allowed to call them asthma attacks because the health professionals won’t give an official diagnosis of asthma until the child concerned is 5, or eleventy hundred, I forget the exact age

Tempus Fugit

Where have the last three weeks gone?  Admittedly last week was chaos with me spending two days in the West Country (visiting lovely little sister and her gorgeous baby) and then two days in hospital with the boy – asthma this time, not nuts you’ll be glad to hear.  I’ve got no excuses for the two weeks prior to that where I have completely failed to blog though.

Can I wriggle out of this by posting some lovely baby pics?

No?  How about a blue pig then?

I’m guessing you’ve rumbled me.  This is a post to get me posting again.  Have you ever been supposed to phone someone and not got round to it?  You get that horrible “the longer you leave it, the harder it is” feeling.  That’s how I’ve been feeling about posting but hopefully I’ve broken that now.

And if you’re still with me, thank you.